rants, inquiries, and general offerings. explicit language within. you have been warned.

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maybe "rants" isn't the right word. these are simple thoughts about my life. some may be more colorful than others. some language may be offensive, but it depends on your definition of offensive. consider this your warning ;)

13 June 2010

two semesters down, two to go

2 white pills, 800mg each of prescription ibuprofen, 3 times a day. chased with a single 500 mg hydrocodone twice daily. less than a week after getting discharged from several hours in the emergency room of Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. Needless to say, the beginning of the summer was a medically-induced haze. That was me this time last year. In the last twelve months so much has happened, and 99% of it revolves around the place many of my friends and classmates refuse to call "home" even though we all spend most of our time there than anywhere else: Cal State Long Beach. It's funny to think about how much has happened in such a short period of time. Just last summer I had the pleasure of combining forces with Martina and Scott, and with the good graces of Vicki and Lutz Moeckel, our visits to Long Beach had a cozy pair of welcoming arms in Garden Grove.

SOAR of mid-july i met my hub of transfer friends: Michelle (HAND!), Virginia, Dustin, Mark, Elyse (muggle!), Tiffanee and Farzi (my Indian family), Jason (TADS!), Diego (Golden Keeey!) and others. Congrats to Dustin on his walk last weekend, but we all thought you were one of us! ;) Class of 2011 here we come! Fast forward to Welcome auditions, Digby, you bastard, i knew i met you at open house, Taryne, you're my favorite nervous auditioner ever, Eric, Brian, Erica, Damian, y'all did a killer job and welcomed us with loving arms ;) Anne, thank you. I'm glad I got to meet you before the school year started and I thank you for everything else this year.

Coming from a community college, I had never worked with or around Graduate students, and come the top of the year I got the opportunity to work with the amazing Lysa Fox as her AD. That led to my pairing with Albert and the vault into our Los Lobos world with Lauren, David, Madi, Aaron and Susana. Songs of the Siren: The Greeks Remixed...now that was an eye-opening experience. I distinctly remembering standing on top of "the table" during light tech and telling Anne that if it weren't for my time in the Navy, I would've tapped out a month or two earlier. Helluva run friends, even with the holiday week in the middle (which included my first Disneyland annual pass ever, my new girlfriend, Courtney's, birthday, my 28th birthday and turkey weekend up north).

Relaxing over winter break was much needed and quite lovely, but little did I know that the first half of Spring semester would be even busier than the last. Acting in Much Ado About Nothing in Santa Monica, Assistant Directing for Edgar with A Human Interest Story, and Directing Shanley's The Big Funk: A Casual Play for showcase was the recipe for internal combustion. being surrounded by talented, passionate, and COMpassionate people was such a reward for this triple-booking, and i mean it in every sense of the phrase, "i couldn't have done it without you"

The latter half of the semester was just as eventful, but sleep was actually a part of it. A few doors have opened in the last few months and I'm excited for each one. I'm proud to say I'm one of LB State's Directing Majors, directing the Scholarship Showcase next semester with a cast of talented actors, there's a voice-over role in the works, and just general growth. In the fall I'm taking my first acting class in at least a couple years, and I'm looking forward to sharing 318A with the lovely bunch of folks that are also involved. Being a director has taught my a lot about acting as well though, watching the auditions, the process, the growth, and sometimes just listening: to each other and to myself can bring you things you can't learn in a classroom.

Jay Samit, the guest speaker at COTA's Commencement this year spoke of a few rules in his speech, and Rule #4 was my favorite: [paraphrased] Live your own dreams for yourself, not for others. I may be almost 30, and i may have spent five years between high school and college working in engineering as a nuclear reactor plant electrician, but I'm here now. Not because I'm supposed to be, or because that's what I do after high school, but because I want to be. I do it because i want it. I love it and I will continue to do it. As long as I'm doing what I love, I'll get up the next day and do it again. I may kick, scream, and cry at times, but every opening night, every closing, every time there's another episode closed, I can look myself in the mirror and say I still love what I do, and I've got nowhere to go but up. I'm still learning, and I'll continue to learn, because the day I think i know everything is the day I should stop doing what I'm doing.

here's to us, friends. whether you're walking next spring with the rest of the Class of 2011, walked already, walking in the future, or walking to whatever drum you beat, this one's for you. [raises beer.] Thank you CSU Long Beach for this past school year, and here's to the summer time. Cheers.